Phoenix Early Head Start: Twelve Family Stories Final ChapterPhoenix Early Head Start is funded under a grant to Southwest Human Development, Inc. from the Administration for Children,

Morrison Institute for Public Policy

School of Public Affairs # College of Public Programs

Arizona State Un iversity

Phoenix Early Head Start:

Twelve Family Stories

Final Chapter

byRick Heffernon

andLinda Sandler

forSouthwest Human Development

July 2000

Phoenix Early Head Start is funded under a grant to Southwest Human Development, Inc. from theAdministration for Children, Youth, and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Thisresearch was conduced by Morrison Institute under a contract with Southwest Human Development, Inc.,Phoenix, Arizona.

About Phoenix Early Head Start

Phoenix Early Head Start is a program for first-time teen parents and theirfamilies. Part of a national initiative funded in 1995 to provide services forlow-income pregnant women and families with children ages birth to three, EarlyHead Start is a family-centered program that is intended to provide early,continuous, intensive, and comprehensive child development and family supportservices for vulnerable families and their very young children.

Phoenix Early Head Start recruits low-income teens ages 13 to 19 incentral/south Phoenix who are pregnant with their first child or who have aninfant under six months of age. The program is designed to serve 120 families,with services provided through a three-pronged approach: weekly home visits,site-based socialization activities, and “brokered” services that link families withhigh-quality community resources. Male involvement is a major program focus,with concentrated outreach efforts to engage young fathers with their children.

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Table of Contents

Introduction—1

Monica and Tony—7

Alysa—11

Mariana and Raul—15

Rosalie—19

Rene—23

Crystal—27

Diane—31

Ruby and Luis—35

Camilla—37

Michael—39

Liana—41

Whitney—43

Morrison Institute for Public Policy 1

Introduction

Case studies tap into the rich background information that can only come from the stories of program

participants themselves. They give voice to individual families’ experiences, providing the “narrative”

that lies behind the numbers and statistics that comprise an overall program evaluation. To develop

some of this background information for the five-year program evaluation of Phoenix Early Head

Start (EHS), case studies were undertaken with 12 families who were representative of all EHS

program participants. Each of the 12 families agreed to be followed throughout their participation in

the program so that their “stories” could be updated as they unfolded from one year to the next.

The case study families were interviewed for the first time in August 1997 and again in August 1998

and August 1999. At about the same time as each family interview cycle, discussions were also

conducted with the family support specialists in order to obtain supplementary information about

each family. Eight of the 12 original families participated in the third interview cycle in August 1999;

four families had been disenrolled some time prior to the third round of interviews. Additional

conversations with the family support specialists in May 2000 provided information about families’

progress following their third interview. At that time, six of the families had transitioned out of EHS,

with the remaining two families scheduled to exit the program in the fall.

Due to issues of anonymity, some background information could not be used in the individual family

stories. Some of this information, however, has been integrated into a broad composite sketch, below,

that will help explain who these families are.

Family Composite

Families entering EHS consisted of at least one teen parent who was the primary caregiver. The

mother was considered the primary caregiver in 11 of the 12 families, the father in one family. Three

of the mothers were married to the father of their children at the time of the third interview cycle.

By program design, EHS has focused efforts on engaging fathers with their young children. As of the

third interview cycle, five fathers were “involved” (loosely defined as having relatively frequent

contact) with their children, while children in three families had limited or no contact with their

fathers.

Many of the teens in the case study came from troubled, disrupted families. Several had been living

with extended families in situations that involved complicated familial relationships and included

children of other relatives. In some cases, severely strained relationships had occurred between the

teen parents and their parents or relatives. Living arrangements improved for some families between

their second and third interviews—change from the previous year during which several of the teens

had experienced upheavals in their living situation. Positive changes include some teens who set up

2 Morrison Institute for Public Policy

independent households and other families who moved to larger houses or more stable living

situations.

Some of the teen parents initially voiced ambivalent feelings about their impending parenthood. Two

mothers said they seriously considered an abortion to avoid the responsibilities of parenting. One

father threatened to abandon the soon-to-be-mother of his child when he found out she was pregnant

and wouldn’t have an abortion. All three eventually changed their minds and expressed satisfaction

with their decisions to accept the role of parent.

For several families, drug and alcohol abuse had been a problem. These abuses were characteristic of

some of the teen parents themselves, their parents and relatives, or boyfriends. Many of the families

had contact with the criminal justice system. At the time of the first interviews, one primary

caregiving parent was on probation and at least two non-primary caregiving parents were in

detention. One teen parent’s father died in prison and another’s uncle was serving a prison sentence.

Domestic violence, rape, or prostitution had also been reported in the background of three of the

families.

Many of the teen parents experienced difficulty completing their education. Prior to their enrollment

in EHS, more than three-quarters of the case study parents had dropped out of junior high or high

school, and one parent reportedly had never attended any school at all. Over the course of the three

years of the case study, several parents were in and out of school, and others continued to talk about

plans to attend GED classes. At the time of the third interview, three of the parents had graduated

from high school (with one subsequently enrolling in college), while five parents were not attending

either school or GED classes.

Several parents faced special problems because they were undocumented immigrants, and therefore

had to manage their lives under a different set of conditions than legal residents. Among the

difficulties, illegal residents were not eligible for some types of public assistance. In one family, an

illegally documented parent applied for health care through AHCCCS (Arizona’s health care system

for indigent people) but when illegal documents were discovered during the application process, the

spouse of this parent lost his job—and the family’s only source of income. Another parent without

legal status, although successful in graduating from high school, has encountered trouble in obtaining

a college scholarship to continue her education. Nonetheless, despite problems stemming from

families’ undocumented status, several parents have been able to find and maintain employment.

Some of the children in EHS families also faced problems. During the first year of the program, staff

expressed concern about two babies that had exhibited poor health or failure to thrive. In addition,

one family was investigated by Child Protective Services after their baby was injured. As the case

study unfolded, some children were diagnosed with speech and language delays and, at or subsequent

to the time of the third interview cycle, two of these children had been pre-enrolled in Head Start

programs with special services, while the family of another child had been connected with services

through the state’s Developmental Disabilities Division (DDD). Several of the children also faced

competition from a sibling: over the course of the three years of the case study, seven of the 12

parents had second babies.


Common Them es

As their children neared a third birthday, transition out of EHS became an issue for all eight families

in this year’s family stories. While several parents understandably voiced sadness and regret at the

prospect of leaving EHS, they articulated positive feelings that suggested a generally good experience

with the transition process. Most of them talked about their experiences in EHS with some sense of

accomplishment at becoming better parents, and some said they were looking forward to their

children’s next experiences in Head Start or preschool.

Several families displayed greater stability this year in their housing situations, and some showed

limited economic progress. While several parents had steady employment, however, the tenuous

nature of economic self-sufficiency for these families was also apparent. Occurrences such as an

automobile break-down or loss of employment income due to health problems, precipitated financial

difficulties for a few case study families. And while several parents talked about going back to school,

they tended to seek the more immediate financial gratification of employment.

A number of this year’s stories describe “busier lives” for families, leaving parents less time to engage

in group socialization activities. Many parents talked about jobs, school, and second children, as

factors that made it increasingly difficult for them to attend the monthly site-based program offerings.

Two case study families also experienced second pregnancies this year, in addition to the five last

year.

After three years of case study, it is apparent that each family has followed its individual path,

affected in part by particular strengths, needs, program participation, and family backgrounds. Some

parents seemed to be strong program “takers,” while others engaged in program activities to lesser

degrees. All, however, appear to have gained from their experiences. The family stories taken as a

whole, and particularly with respect to EHS program experiences, have been consistent in exhibiting

several distinct themes. The most prominent of these themes follow:

Assistance from caring staff—Parents continued to talk about their family support specialists and

other EHS staff as people who cared about them and who provided them with assistance in many

specific areas of their lives. They also said that their family support specialists helped them with their

problems and relationships, and provided a crucial sounding board for their concerns because

otherwise they felt they “don’t have anybody that they can talk to.” Many of the families mentioned

they received emotional support from program staff, particularly in helping them deal with personal

stresses. They continue to feel valued as a result of EHS staff’s belief in them, leading several parents

to talk about their increased self-confidence.

Half the families in the third interview cycle had to adjust to more than one family support specialist

over the course of the case study due to staff turnover. While one parent expressed negative feelings

about the experience, the others continued to feel supported. Families who maintained the same

family support specialist throughout their time in EHS underscored again the supportive nature of the

relationship, expressing the feeling “[We] can talk about a lot of things...about the family, how it’s

doing, about...whatever.”


Reassurance from home visits and child development—Parents continued to say they received a great

deal of information during their home visits, and articulated a growing sense of knowledge and

understanding of their children’s development. Home visits gave them regular opportunities to

discuss problems, get information about specific topics they needed help with, and find out about

their children’s progress. The EHS nurses were a stable source of information and support to the

families, providing periodic assessments of the children and support and assistance to parents with

medical problems. Developmental assessments by EHS staff helped reassure parents about their

children’s well-being, and parents appreciated the individual guidance and assistance they received

when they encountered specific problems. Ongoing discussions about maintaining their children’s

health and safety continued to keep parents’ attention focused on these issues. EHS staff also

connected parents with needed medical and psychological assistance when necessary.

Help in becoming good parents—Case study participants strongly credit the EHS program with

helping them understand their children and become better parents. Nearly all of them talked about

dealing with the stresses of parenting—learning patience, learning to control their anger, and learning

positive discipline techniques. Several of them also mentioned the parent-child playgroups as a place

where they learned good parenting skills, and where their children had positive experiences. Parents

continued to value the information about child development, health, nutrition, and safety they

received from the family support specialists, nurses, and child development specialists. They also

continued to appreciate the positive reinforcement they received from EHS staff regarding their role

as parents, expressing the feeling that “...just the fact that [the staff] have been telling me I am...a

good parent has helped.”

Help with personal goals—EHS has continued to help parents try to stay on track and move ahead

with their lives. Most parents talked about regularly “revisiting” their personal goals with their family

support specialist, discussing where they wanted to go with their lives, and thinking through the steps

necessary to get there. Their family support specialists provided assistance in helping them reach their

goals in a variety of ways. They mentioned ongoing encouragement to stay in or return to school, with

support in exploring programs and completing necessary paperwork. Other assistance was provided in

locating and applying for jobs, completing and filing papers to obtain legal status, developing a budget

and plan for savings, and connecting them with family planning services.

Help with daily life—After three years of program participation, several case study parents were

better able to manage some of the activities of daily life. This was particularly true for families who

now owned cars, and those who had jobs and a steady source of income. Conversely, those families

without a reliable source of transportation and with sporadic income needed—and received—

program assistance in keeping medical appointments, looking for work, and help in obtaining food

and household items. Program staff also continued to guide families through government and medical

systems. Parents were assisted in obtaining services through DDD, filing papers to gain legal status,

enrolling in AHCCCS, and navigating the medical community.

Socialization opportunities for children and parents—While overall, parents were busier and had less

time to attend EHS activities this year, several parents mentioned the play groups as providing good

opportunities for their children to socialize with other kids and participate in a variety of play

activities. Those parents who said they had attended some of the monthly socialization activities


continued to enjoy talking and learning about different topics in a group setting. A few of the parents

also continued to serve on the parent policy committee this year. But several of the parents said they

had less time to attend the socialization activities this year than in the past, and some expressed

regret that they were not available to participate because their lives were so busy.

The Stories Continue

The analysis presented above captures the essence of the journeys that 12 case study families made

through Phoenix Early Head Start. This analysis will be integrated into the larger body of program

evaluation data that will be published later this year as part of the final report for the EHS continuous

improvement evaluation.

Overall, most case study families made progress during the study, though to widely differing degrees.

The eight families still enrolled in the program at the end of the case study all faced transition out of

Early Head Start but generally appeared ready to move on with their lives. Although somewhat

apprehensive about life without the “safety net” of EHS, they seemed much more confident than

earlier. They had some knowledge and understanding of their children and themselves, and had

articulated—and taken some steps towards achieving—personal and family goals.

What follows are the family stories themselves. For the eight families still participating in EHS at the

time of the third interview cycle, these stories are told in their own words, with additional background

data included from other program sources. A summary of information from previous year interviews

has also been included because this is the last “story year” of the case study. The stories of the four

families who were disenrolled prior to the third round of interviews appear toward the end of the

document. Because they were not interviewed in the current cycle, only the background information

and previous year summaries are presented.

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Monica and Tony

Monica, 20, and Tony, 23, along with their 32-month-old daughter and 19-month-old son, live in

a small house belonging to Monica’s grandfather in a neighborhood of older homes—some well

cared for, others run-down. They have lived in the same house for more than three years.

Monica’s grandfather and uncle also reside in the house, as do other relatives on occasion.

Monica receives AHCCCS benefits for her children, and also qualifies for subsidies for her personal

health care, but otherwise the couple must make do with the earnings of Tony, who works full

time. As of their third annual interview, Monica and Tony had been enrolled in Early Head Start

for 32 months.

Monica heard about Early Head Start from nurses who check her diabetes. At the time of their

first annual interview, Tony was working full time while Monica handled child care and

housekeeping duties. They had recently experienced a difficult Child Protective Services (CPS)

investigation after Tony had picked up their daughter improperly and fractured her arm. Early

Head Start staff had assisted the couple during the investigation. They said the programs had also

helped them in a number of other ways: program staff gave them job and career advice, taught

them how to care for their daughter, provided frequent health monitoring for both Monica and

her daughter, and gave advice during family problems. Monica said she enjoyed site-based

activities for both the information and socialization opportunities, while Tony appreciated the

male involvement specialist’s help in finding a better job and trying to enroll in a G.E.D. program.

By their second annual interview, Monica and Tony had married and added a second child to the

family. Monica went to work part time and the couple were able to purchase a car. They found

the constant demands of work and child care to be tiring, but the car gave them a welcome sense

of independence. They said that Early Head Start had helped them understand their children and

become better parents. Program nurses regularly monitored the health not only of their children,

but also of Monica who has diabetes and other health concerns. And they were grateful to male

involvement specialist who had testified on Tony’s behalf during a court appearance regarding the

earlier CPS investigation. While their jobs prevented them from regularly attending program

events, Monica had gone to some site-based activities in the past year and had also taken her

daughter to a play group.

Monica and Tony describe little change in thepast year. Tony: “Things are pretty much thesame.” He works at the same security job he hasheld for the last year and a half, and theycontinue to live in the same house. But otherthings have changed. Monica had to quit herjob at a fast food restaurant due to healthproblems. Their car broke down, and so theyhave been forced to ask for rides from familymembers in order to get to work, shopping, and

doctor’s appointments. And through it all, theirfinances have suffered. Monica: “It’s hard…We’re behind on money, we’re behind oneverything right now. “ Tony: “I’ve beenworking overtime as much as I can, so I can getthis car running. Then we’ll be back on trackand we’ll have transportation again.”

Monica says she has constant stress. Monica:“[My family support specialist] tries to help, but I


�[Our family support specialist] gave us a

budget book...We do budget ourselves to a

point, like what we can do and what we

can’t...It’s just like my pay doesn’t seem to go

far enough.

still have it—family, kids, house, money, bills. Ifit’s not one thing it’s another.” Her health is amajor concern. “I need to get back to the doctorbecause I haven’t been since I was pregnant.”Early Head Start has encouraged Monica to takecare of herself. Monica: “The nurse comes overto check the kids. She also comes over to talk tome. She’s the one that took me to the doctor thefirst time I went. And I was happy because…shestayed there when the doctor sat down and had adiscussion with us, told us about all the thingsthat might happen and she stayed with methrough the whole thing. They even paid for mydoctor visit because I didn’t have the money togo.”

Their goals haven’tchanged much in the pastyear. Monica: “I wantto make sure [the kids]are safe, have food,have diapers. I want toget my daughter pottytrained.” Tony: “I’vebeen wanting to getback in school so I can improve on my skills,but it’s just been so hard [with working] that Ihaven’t been able to.” Monica: I’m not planningto go to school or get a job at least until mydaughter goes to school… She won’t stay withanybody except my grandfather, but he’s like 69years old and I don’t want to leave her withhim—he can’t handle her.

Program staff have helped them learn to bebetter parents. Tony: “They’ve showed us howto interact with our children more, how to payattention to them more when they want stuff.They’ve made us set goals for them and setgoals for ourselves.” The program has alsotaught them about child development. Tony:“Since the kids were born they’ve been showingus pretty much everything—how to changebabies, how to bathe them, how to feed them,how to cope with stress when babies just cry forno reason. They’ve taught us a lot of stuff.”Monica: “[My family support specialist] bringsme a lot of information about potty training andgetting them off the bottle.”

Their attendance at site-based activities hasbeen sparse. Tony: “I would love to go and bethere with my kids, but my job, my schedule,won’t allow it.” Monica: “If it’s on the weekend,like the picnic, there’s no problem for him togo.” Tony: “That was fun. They had a little bitof everything.”

Monica says she enjoys the play groups andtakes both her children. Monica: “The kidshave so much fun. They always have somecertain activity.” Tony: “The last one I wasat…they had different kinds of things likesmells and sounds and basically [stimulated] all

their senses to see howalert the kids were.”Monica: “And theyalways have us sit downand sing nurseryrhymes with the kids.”

The family has had avariety of familysupport specialists sinceenrollment. Monica:

“This is like the third one. I get along withher… She visits once a week usually, butsometimes we do our visit at play group… Shealways brings me [parenting] information andgoes over the papers with me. We talk about alot of stuff.”

One of the things they discuss is birth control.Monica: “I’m on that, I got that already.” Tony:“We’ve already settled that we’re only going tohave two kids and no more. Two’s enough.”They also discuss child health. Monica: “Thekids are all caught up on their shots andeverything. That’s one thing [my family supportspecialist] always makes sure.” Another thingthey talk about is child safety. Monica: “Shetold us about those plastic covers for theoutlets.” Tony: “All of our electrical outlets arepretty much covered up.” And they discusseconomic self-sufficiency. Monica: “She gave usa budget book.” Tony: “We do budget ourselvesto a point, like what we can do and what wecan’t. And which bills need to be paid. It’s justlike my pay doesn’t seem to go far enough.”


Other staff also visit the couple. Besides theirfamily support specialist and the nurse, theyhave been visited by a speech therapist for theirdaughter. But Tony regrets that he hasn’t hadmuch recent contact with the maleinvolvement specialist with whom he hasbonded. Tony: “He makes me feel that I shouldkeep on succeeding and not fall back… He saysif you fall, just get back up and keep on going…I guess he figured I didn’t need any morehelp…but sometimes guys have questions thatare kind of hard to ask women.” Tony’srecommendation to improve the program: “Forthe males to have more assistance—if the fatheris still there.”

Program staff have already talked to Monicaand Tony about their eventual transition fromEarly Head start. Monica: “They told me I wasgoing to have to be out when my daughter turnsthree in November. That’s when they’ll try toget her into school—Head Start. That’s one ofthe reasons they wanted me to go to play group

because she’s not used to being around otherkids.” They are saddened at the prospect ofleaving Early Head Start. Tony: “We’ll lose a lotof people who helped us out. That’s the mainthing we’re going to be losing. And theassistance they provide, the help.”

Monica says the program has made a differencein many aspects of their lives: “Ineverything—education, health, even when wewere real low on food they gave us food boxes.”Tony says Early Head Start has given theirchildren an advantage: “Comparing mychildhood to [that of] my children, I never hadwhat they have. This [program] was neveraround when I was a kid. I’m not saying it’sokay to be a teenage parent, but mychildren…are going to have a better startschool-wise than what I had…[They] are goingto be really educated to the point where they’reable to graduate… The program has just beenwonderful for us.”

Epilogue—In the six months following their final interview, Monica and Tony continued much as

before with one improvement—they managed to get their car running. They also had some

troubling news—they learned their daughter was diagnosed with a developmental delay. With

the help of Early Head Start, the couple enrolled their daughter in a nearby Head Start program

that would provide her with special services. Both parents accompanied the girl to her first day of

Head Start, and Monica soon began volunteering at the school. They exited Early Head Start in

February 2000.


Alysa

Alysa, 19, and her son, 37 months, live in an apartment in a Phoenix public housing project. The

father of her son is not involved with them, but Alysa is pregnant with a second child and plans

to marry the father of this child. She has not completed her high school education and has been

unemployed for more than a year, but she manages to get by on public assistance in the form of

food stamps, TANFF, and AHCCCS benefits. Due to her pending transition out of the program,

she no longer receives home visits, but still can attend activities, play groups, and parent

committee meetings. At the time of her third annual interview, Alysa had been enrolled in Early

Head Start for 34 months.

Alysa was encouraged to join Early Head Start by an older sister who was also enrolled in the

program. At her first annual interview, she and her son lived in an economically depressed

neighborhood with her mother, three younger siblings, and an older sister and her child. She had

dropped out of high school but held a steady job at a grocery store. Her mother provided child

care while she was at work. Alysa said that Early Head Start had helped her deal with her biggest

problem—transportation—by providing rides to activities and medical appointments. Her family

support specialist had worked with her to set a number of goals, including getting back into high

school. She felt that home visits were stimulating for her son. She hadn’t attended many site-

based activities due to her work schedule, but when she did go she found them to be fun and

interesting. She liked the activities because they gave her information on how to care for her

baby, and provided an opportunity to interact with new people.

By her second interview, Alysa and her son had moved to an apartment in a Phoenix public

housing project. She had quit work and stopped attending a charter school where she had hoped

to complete her high school education. She had also lost the family support specialist she’d had

since enrollment. Transportation continued to be a problem for her, as did making ends meet on

public assistance with no support from the father of her child. She served on the Parent Policy

Committee, but had lost interest in site-based activities and expressed some general complaints

about Early Head Start. Nevertheless, she credited the program with monitoring her son’s safety,

health, and development, and for helping her to learn about parenting, and she said play groups

were good for her son because they taught him to share with other kids. Her main personal goals

were to complete high school and get a good job. She also said she hoped to become pregnant

again because she wanted a daughter.

Alysa did not make any progress on her majorpersonal goals in the past year. Regardingeducation, she says: “I haven’t tried to go backand get a GED… I’m going to try to go backand get my GED as soon as my son starts schoolin September.” And regarding employment:“I’m looking for a job, but I don’t want to get

one right now because [my son] is not in schooland I don’t have a really steady baby sitter.”

As she had hoped, she did become pregnant inthe past year. She expects the father of thischild, who is her fiancé, to be an involvedparent and provide financial support. She alsoexpects to resolve her transportation difficulties


One thing she learned from the program...

�Not to slap your child...Don’t punish them

in a bad way.

and not have to rely on the city bus system. “Ina couple of weeks I’m going to get a car… Iwon’t be home all of the time…and I’ll havemore time with my son when I’m not in school.”

Alysa feels her son has made progress on thegoals she set for his development. “Now thathe’s three he’s improving a whole lot on hislanguage. He talks more and I can understandwhat he’s saying. He’s potty trained.” While shefeels that Early Head Start has helped her be abetter parent, she credits her mother for muchof what she knows and practices. “They helpedme out a little bit with him. They told mewhat’s healthy for a baby to eat, to keep hishygiene up. Everything else I learned from mymom… My mom already showed me what todo.”

One thing she learned from the program,however, stands out.“Not to slap your child.Have a calm voicewhen you talk. Don’tpunish them in a badway. Teach them rightfrom wrong—don’t letthem do somethingwrong when you knowit’s not right. Tell them it’s not right. It hashelped me out with discipline. I’ve kind oftoned it down a little bit because some thingsthey tell us to do, it doesn’t affect every child.Every child acts different.”

She has not been to most of the site-basedactivities, but made an effort to attend one ondiscipline. “I liked that one because somepeople discipline their kids in different ways.Some tell them to stand in the corner, somespank their hand, some tell them to go liedown. They tell us to discipline them, don’t yellat them. Talk to them in a level voice wherethey can understand you. But you ought not tobribe them.” She also wishes she had attendedanother activity of interest. “They had one totalk about career, but I didn’t go. So I couldhave probably been able to get a job right there,but I just didn’t go.”

She regularly takes her son to play groups. “Heloves play group. Different kids, toys, he gets toplay with his cousin… I’ve missed only a coupleof them.” She also is a member of the ParentPolicy Committee and the Parent PolicyCouncil. As a Council member, she participatedin a memorable trip to Washington D.C. “Thatwas for us to meet the head administrator of theprogram and for us to find out information ondifferent sites. It was real fun. Different scenery,different people. They had different eventsevery night. There was one particular one Iliked. It was about crack babies. That was onethat caught my eye.”

A little over a year ago, Alysa was assigned anew family support specialist, and herrelationship with the “new’ family supportspecialist has deteriorated over the course ofthe past year. “At first we got along, but she

started pulling away,didn’t try to help meget my GED. It’s likeshe didn’t try hardenough to push me togo and get it. I justgave up. I wasn’tsatisfied with her beingmy family support

specialist.” Her family support specialist,however, did help her in some ways related toher son’s health and safety. “She would pushme to go the doctor’s appointments, and giveme [bus] tokens for transportation… She gaveme those plug-ins to put in the top [of electricoutlets].” Other staff also visited periodically.“The nurse, she came out and visited… tocheck up on [my son’s] health. He had gained afew pounds and gotten taller.”

She has already begun her transition out ofEarly Head Start, following a plan she discussedwith her family support specialist before homevisits ended. “That was our last visit when wetalked about transitioning out of theprogram—when I leave, what program I’d begoing to next after this. They were saying hewould have to go to a Head Start. He couldn’tgo to Early Head Start any more. They helpedme get him enrolled…down the street.”Because she was elected to the Parent Policy


Committee, she will remain eligible for someEarly Head Start services until her term ofoffice expires in November. “I still get to go toplay groups and activities, but as far as homevisits, no.” She says she isn’t worried aboutlosing the program. “I’m happy, but my sonprobably isn’t as happy because he doesn’t reallyknow. He’s going to a different school with hiscousin is all he knows.”

She feels that Early Head Start could beimproved. “They need to have nicer people, likethe family support specialists could be nicer andtry to go out of their way to help their families,because some of them don’t help their families

enough. They should expand the home visits totwo hours, and twice a week instead of once aweek, so the family support specialists haveenough time to talk about what’s on the family’smind. And the activities…have them longer sothe kids have enough time to play when they goout there.”

When she thinks about what she might missabout Early Head Start, she can name only twothings. “Transportation and play groups areabout the only two I like… They helped me outwith the transportation… You can depend onthem to come pick you up.”

Epilogue—In the two and a half months following her last interview, Alysa’s situation did not

change much. She remained unemployed, not enrolled in school, and living in the same

apartment. As planned, her 3-year-old son began attending Head Start in September 1999.

During this time, she also gave birth to her second child, a boy, but did not marry or move in

with her fiancé. She exited Early Head Start in November 1999 after her term on the Parent Policy

Committee expired.


Mariana and Raul

Mariana, 21, and her husband Raul live with their 27-month-old son in a rented two-bedroom

home that they share with a roommate, a single mother and her two elementary school age

children. Raul works full time at a recycling plant and their roommate holds a full-time job.

Mariana is pregnant and is staying at home to care for their child. The couple receive WIC

benefits for their son and have applied for AHCCCS for their expected baby. At the time of their

third annual interview, they had been enrolled in Early Head Start for 34 months. Both are

monolingual Spanish speakers, and in the past have been interviewed together with the help of a

translator. For this interview, only Mariana was available.

Mariana found out about Early Head Start from a staff member at a school where she volunteers.

At their first annual interview, the couple were living in a small guest house behind the main

house in which they live now. Raul worked second shift at a salvage yard and sold products at a

weekend swap meet, while Mariana stayed home with the baby and volunteered at a local school.

The couple said that Early Head Start had taught them how to prepare for having a baby when

Mariana was pregnant, and how to care for their son once he was born. Site-based activities had

provided their son with play opportunities. The program had also provided services such as

medical advice, translation assistance, and emergency milk supplies when WIC vouchers ran out.

At the time of their second annual interview, the couple still lived in the same guest house, but

they had added a roommate and her two children. They said they were getting along better

economically because Mariana had gone to work. Among other things, they had purchased a car

and planned to save some money. But now that she was working, Mariana regretted that she

couldn’t attend site-based activities and support groups, or serve on the parent committee as she

had previously. Mariana and Raul said Early Head Start had taught them how to be good parents,

helped them learn about how their son develops, encouraged them to talk and play with their

son, taught them how to make their home more child safe, and helped Raul find employment.

Early Head Start staff also regularly monitored their son’s health, and frequently offered advice

and support on a variety of issues, such as frustration over their son’s growing independence as a

toddler.

Mariana and Raul made some major changesin their lives during the past year. Marianabecame pregnant and quit her job, and thefamily moved into a larger house that stands infront of the small guest house they had rentedfor the last two years. Regarding her pregnancy,Mariana says it was planned. “I’m pretty happybecause we’re going to have another baby. Wewanted another baby, but just two, no morethan two children.” She says she plans to goback to work, but not right away. “I’m going to

need to stay with my child for about a year anda half, like I did with my son.”

She considers the move into a new house verypositive. “This one has more room, it has abigger yard, and we’re a little morecomfortable.” Her new situation, however, hasprevented her from improving her Englishliteracy. “My family support specialist had megoing to English classes. But since I have thechild now and the two kids [of her roommate’s]


�When I was first pregnant [with their

second child], I started getting really

depressed...[My family support specialist]

had me talk with a psychologist ...Now I feel a

lot better.

here are on summer vacation, it’s hard for me togo. Their mother has to work and the kids stayhere at home.”

Early Head Start has helped Mariana cope withsome of the stressors in her life. “My son wasputting me through a lot. He wanted me tocarry him all day... He cried if I left him.... Italked about this with [my family supportspecialist] and with [my husband] and we cameto a decision.” Mariana decided to stopresponding to her son’scrying, and it hasworked for her. “If youdon’t want to give himthings he starts to cry.So I tell him, ‘No, I’mnot giving it to you.’And he cries for a littlebit...but I don’t payhim any attention andhe calms down and stops.”

The program has also helped her become abetter parent. “They’ve helped me be so patientwith my son. It’s helped me to know when I dothings right or not.” Among the things she haslearned is how to look out for her child’s safety.“I take a lot of precautions. For example, if he’splaying outside in the front yard, he doesn’t goout into the street. He stays in the yard.”

Mariana has also learned about her son’sgrowth and development, particularly as her sonhas reached two years of age. “My familysupport specialist told me this is when they startbecoming a little rebellious. They wanteverything for themselves...that it’s like they’retrying to see how much control they have overtheir parents.” She has also learned to provideher son only nutritious foods. “When my sondoesn’t want food, I say, ‘Okay, you don’t wantto eat? Then you aren’t going to eat, but you’renot going to get sweets or anything else.’”

While Mariana used to go to almost every site-based activity, she says that first her job, andthen her pregnancy has kept her from attendingin the past few months. She has also not beenattending support groups, play groups, or otheractivities due to her child care responsibilities at

home. Likewise, Raul has only attended oneactivity for dads because of his work schedule.

Raul and Mariana have had the same familysupport specialist since enrolling in theprogram, and Mariana says they have a strongrelationship. They receive home visits once aweek, and Raul participates when his workschedule allows. “We talk with her a whole lotabout the family, how it’s doing, and about usand whatever. I know that with her I can talk

about a lot of things....We all chat. When it’sthe three of us[including Raul] wehave a nice talk.”

Her family supportspecialist regularly goesover health andprevention issues, such

as getting prenatal care, taking birth control,and preventing illness. “She tells us, ‘Prettysoon it’ll be time to take [your son] in for hisimmunizations. Or, you need to take him in fora checkup.’ And she tells me, ‘You’ve got to betaking your vitamin pills, and it’s important tosee the doctor.’” They also discuss safety in thehome. “She got us some of those safety clips forthe cabinet doors because my son was openingthem. He started when he was little, but now hedoes it more--he opens all the drawers, takesthings out, and now he opens the doors.”

Sometimes they talk about emotional issues.“When I first was pregnant, I started gettingreally depressed. I was going through lots ofchanges and everything would depress me. So Ispoke with [my family support specialist] andshe had me talk with a psychologist, and now Ithink it was just I was in the beginning stages ofpregnancy and going through these changes.Now I feel a lot better.” And they occasionallydiscuss family finances. “My family supportspecialist has always told us whenever both ofus are working, ‘Try to save away something.Perhaps the day may come when one of youstops working, and you will be in need if youdon’t have something to carry you over forawhile.’”


Both Early Head Start nurses have visitedMariana to provide services. “One nurse comesto check on [my son], and I think it’s aboutevery six months. The other nurse from EarlyHead Start, the one that’s helping me with mypregnancy, just recently visited for the firsttime.

Mariana credits her family support specialistfor helping her through a difficult time with herpregnancy. “One of my tests came out showingan infection or something… I started feeling sobad that I went to the emergency room… So Italked with [my family support specialist] aboutthis, and the nurse came to visit me at home.”Then a doctor told Mariana her unborn childprobably had Down’s Syndrome. “At first I feltawful. I started crying… He told me I could gofor more tests to make sure, but that these testswere going to be like $1800. When I talked tomy family support specialist about it, she said,‘Oh, no. We can find this cheaper… Just keepresting. I’ll call to find you a place where youcan get these special tests.’”

In the past year, program staff have discussedwith Mariana her son’s transition out of EarlyHead Start. “My family support specialist gave

me all the paperwork for when [my son] turnsthree years old… He will be going into HeadStart, and when that happens, the time will endfor receiving this help. When he turns three,the visits will only be once a month, but whenhe goes into Head Start at, like, three years andfour months, the visits will stop.”

Mariana says that home visits and site-basedactivities are what she will miss the most whenher family transitions out of the program. “Ithink we’re going to feel it when the time comesbecause he will have been with them for threeyears… They’ve given us a lot of help… I’m notgoing to have anyone right there to remind meabout his immunizations.” But Mariana feelsher family is better off than a few years ago. “Ithink it’s going well. We have morecommunication. [Raul] comes home from workand we talk about how the day went, what hedid, what I did. We talk about what we’re goingto do in the upcoming week with the money,what must be paid. Before he was saying,‘You’re spending too much.’… We were wastinga lot… Now we make a plan and decide whatwe need in the house, or what he needs for his

job.”

Epilogue—Since the last interview, Mariana and Raul’s living situation has changed somewhat.

The have stayed in the same house, but instead of having a roommate with two children, they

have Raul’s mother living with them. And contrary to the diagnosis of one doctor, Mariana gave

birth to a healthy child. The family remains fairly self-sufficient economically; Raul has been

working full time in construction, his mother holds a job, and they now have two vehicles.

Mariana has continued to participate in regular home visits, though she has not taken advantage

of most other program activities. Some concerns have been raised by Early Head Start staff over

her health practices for the children. Despite medical coverage for both boys, she has not kept

them up-to-date with all of their recommended check-ups, though she has kept them current on

their immunizations. Recently the older boy was diagnosed with speech delays. He has, however,

been pre-enrolled in a Head Start program that will provide special services to address this issue.

That program begins in the fall, at which point Mariana and Raul’s family will exit Early Head

Start.


Rosalie

Rosalie, 19, and her 28-month-old daughter live in a rented house with other family members,

including her mother, two older brothers and a sister with two young children. This living

situation has remained fairly stable for several years. The father of Rosalie’s child also resides with

them periodically, but contributes little for child support or household expenses. Family members

pool their resources: One of Rosalie’s brothers provides most of the income for the household;

Rosalie works part time; her daughter receives benefits from WIC and AHCCCS; and Rosalie’s

sister receives TANF and food stamps. Nevertheless, the family has difficulty meeting basic living

expenses and has no car available. At the time of her third interview, Rosalie had been in Early

Head Start for 31 months. Her mother and siblings sometimes participate in home visits and

program activities. While Rosalie speaks some English and has graduated from high school in

Phoenix, she asked to be interviewed with the assistance of a Spanish translator.

Rosalie found out about Early Head Start from a counselor at the high school she attended.

During her first interview, Rosalie said that Early Head Start taught her about parenting and how

to treat her child. Site-based activities had helped her daughter learn new skills, and had given

Rosalie ideas on activities she could do at home with her daughter. Her family support specialist

had provided Rosalie with personal assistance and help in understanding her school work. Among

her goals was to complete high school.

In her second interview, Rosalie said that Early Head Start had helped her get medical assistance

for her daughter, sometimes provided diapers and other necessities, and helped explain her child’s

puzzling behaviors particularly regarding food. Site-based activities had shown Rosalie how a

child develops and the best ways to treat a child in an emergency medical situation, and her

daughter liked the play group because there had been many children and toys. Rosalie said she

looked forward to her family support specialist’s regular home visits because she trusted her to

give good advice on parenting and to provide emotional support and motivation to meet

important goals, such as finishing high school and finding a job.

In the past year, Rosalie’s home situation hasnot changed much, but she has made progressin some key areas of her life. Most important,she graduated from high school. Now, with thehelp of Early Head Start, she is searching forscholarships in order to attend college. So far, ithasn’t been a successful search. “There’s ascholarship for $1000 [but] it’s been really hardto get because…I don’t have my legal status.”Rosalie says she is working with Early HeadStart staff to obtain the necessary legal papersand, if successful, she hopes to win a

scholarship and attend college next secondsemester.

With the help of her family support specialist,Rosalie found a part time job as a child careprovider for Early Head Start support groupmeetings. The extra money has been welcome.“I try to make sure I get my daughter diapersand some of the things that she needs.” Herfamily support specialist, however, advises hernot to spend it all. “She tells me, ‘Savesomething away for [your daughter], at least for


�When I felt like I wasn’t going to finish high

school [my family support specialist] would say,

‘You’re in your last year. At least graduate.’”

“[Now]...there’s a [college] scholarship for

$1,000 [but] it’s been really hard to get

because...I don’t have my legal status.

when she gets bigger.’ With what I make, I tryto save something.”

Rosalie feels she has a good relationship withher family support specialist. During home visitsthey sometimes discuss her health. “She helpsme understand what is good and not good forme.” For example, “I asked her which is the bestcontraceptive.” They also talk about goals.“When I felt like I wasn’t going to finish highschool, she’d say, ‘You’re in your last year. Atleast graduate… If you want to go to college, wecan help look for some grants or scholarships.’”And they talk abouther daughter’shealth and safety. “Iasked her about thethings to cover theoutlets [because mydaughter] likes toget into them.” Also,“We talk about[vaccinations], butnot so much latelybecause she has allthat she needs now.But ever since she was born she’s never failed toget her vaccinations when she needed them.”Other staff members also visit regarding herdaughter’s health. “A nurse comes to see howshe’s developing… It’s the check-up where sheuses the blocks and sees how she plays andwhat she does.” In addition, the maleinvolvement specialist has been working withRosalie on obtaining citizenship papers.

Recently Rosalie and her family supportspecialist have been discussing transition out ofthe program after her daughter turns three.“We talk about plans for how my daughter is

going to go out of this program… how to gether in Head Start. She gives me a lot ofinformation about Head Start.” They also havediscussed other transition plans. “She said thatwhen the time comes to leave the program thatthe visits won’t be the same with one or twovisits a week. It’s going to be maybe one visit intwo weeks.” But Rosalie isn’t apprehensive.“They’re preparing us for when it happens.They’re letting us know little by little. It’s notgoing to be a real big change, it’s going to be thesame because…she’ll go into regular HeadStart.”

Due to her schoolingRosalie has onlyattended a few playgroups, and due to herwork she has missedthe support groups,but she continues toattend site-basedactivities regularlyevery month. Amongher favorites was asession on sexually

transmitted diseases and their prevention. Shesays the site-based activities are one of theaspects of the program she will miss the most.

Another aspect of Early Head Start that she willmiss greatly is the information she receives fromEarly Head Start staff. “They give you a lot ofgood advice… They tell you all about how kidsgrow, and the different phases, and how thebody is formed.” That advice has helped herbecome a better parent, she says. “Before Ididn’t have patience, and kids can really stressyou out. I used to yell at [my daughter], but nolonger.”

Epilogue—Since her last interview, Rosalie’s living situation has essentially remained unchanged,

with the family continuing to struggle to pay the bills. She has remained very active in Early Head

Start, rarely missing home visits and regularly attending site-based activities and play groups. She

has made some progress in self-sufficiency. With the assistance of the male involvement

specialist, she obtained a work permit, applied for job placement through Chicanos por la Causa


(a local community-based organization), and was hired in an assembly-line job. She also won an

$800 education scholarship from Head Start and hopes to enroll in Phoenix College.

But Rosalie has endured some setbacks regarding the health and development of her

daughter—she was diagnosed as moderately delayed for preschool and also shows signs of

anemia. In response, Rosalie has weaned her daughter from a baby bottle and is in the process of

developing a goal to improve her daughter’s nutrition. She has also moved forward with transition

plans by pre-enrolling her daughter in a Head Start program that will provide special services to

address the developmental delay. When her daughter begins regular Head Start in August, Rosalie

plans to exit Early Head Start.


Rene

Rene, 20, and her 36-month-old daughter live with her mother and sister in a house where they

have their own room and telephone line. The father of the child regularly interacts with Rene and

her daughter, and contributes child support. During her pregnancy, Rene suffered a paralyzing

stroke that left lingering difficulties with vision, movement, and memory. Rene receives financial

assistance from SSI, TANF, WIC, and sources related to her disability. At the time of her third

interview, she had been in Early Head Start for 32 months.

Rene originally heard about Early Head Start from a case manager when her daughter was five

months old. During her first interview, Rene said that she had been living with her

boyfriend—the father of her child—when she experienced her life-altering stroke. The two had

planned to marry but, after the stroke, Rene returned home so her mother could care for her.

Nevertheless, Rene’s boyfriend picked up Rene and her daughter early every morning and drove

them across town to a baby sitter so Rene could attend school. She characterized Early Head

Start as one of the “highlights” of her life, saying that program staff monitored the health of her

child, offered guidance and information to help her become a better parent, provided personal

support and counseling, and gave her the chance to socialize with other teen parents during

monthly activities. The program also helped her focus on her role as a mother and motivated her

to work toward personal goals. Among her goals, she planned to earn a high school diploma,

become a chiropractor, continue her physical therapy, maintain a stable relationship with the

father of her child, keep her daughter healthy, and fulfill her daughter’s needs. She wanted the

program to offer more frequent activities, particularly those aimed at parenting issues and hands-

on projects.

At her second annual interview, Rene said she had finished her junior year in high school and quit

her part-time work as a chiropractic assistant to spend more time with her daughter. She had

broken up with her boyfriend, but continued to keep him in touch with his daughter. She

remained frustrated by her disability, but felt she had grown as a result of adversity. To help her

deal with the build-up of stresses from being a teenager, mother, daughter, sister, and student,

she began attending mom’s support groups. She had also recently moved into her own bedroom

at her mother’s boyfriend’s house, which helped alleviated some family tensions. She said she

appreciated the assistance of Early Head Start in providing emotional support, monitoring her

daughter’s health, helping her learn to become a better parent, informing her about child

development and safety, answering her questions, and providing an overall supportive

environment for young mothers and children. She rarely missed site-based activities and took her

daughter to play groups during the summer when school was out. Her main goals for the coming

year were to graduate from high school, get her daughter prepared for Head Start, and stay

positive about her life.

Rene reached a major goal in the past year. “Igraduated high school in May. This summerI’ve been being a mom and trying to get

everything together to go to college, basically totry to tie up loose ends and go through all theprograms they have so I can get some assistance


�[EHS] taught me... to understand the

stages she’s growing through

developmentally... If she’s getting into things I

could...spank her, but what I’m able to do

because of EHS is look at it from her

perspective–she’s only a kid and she’s

exploring her surroundings.

to get my schooling so I can actually provide formy daughter.” If everything works out, herdaughter will accompany her to the collegecampus every day. “She’s going to be at thePhoenix College Child Care Center and she’llbe in Head Start half a day because they worktogether. I can only have her there if I’m astudent at the college.”

She has worked on her other goals as well.“Every six months I had an IFSP (individualfamily service plan) and we would redo ourgoals. I wanted to get my diploma. I did that.And I wanted to make sure my daughter had astable family life. We’re working on that, talkingabout getting married,and trying to get aplace together… mydaughter’s daddy,myself, and the baby.We’re saving ourmoney and lookingaround at apartmentcomplexes… I want mydaughter to go throughHead Start and thatway when she doesstart kindergarten she’llalready be set. Shealready knows most of her ABCs and stuff so Ijust want her to continue to get thatstimulation… Mostly I just want her tomaintain her health and be a productivemember of society eventually.”

Early Head Start has influenced a change ofcareer plans for Rene. “I had originally wantedto be a chiropractor, but with my disability Ithink that it would be a struggle, the physicalpart of it… Now I’m planning to study earlychildhood development. I’m going to be a HeadStart teacher. I really got a lot out of thisprogram and I just want to give back. “

S he plans to go to college every day by bus—achallenge with her disability, but one she hasworked on. “I went through mobility trainingmy senior year with a vision and mobilityspecialist because of my blindness. We did a lotof training. I was getting up at 6 a.m. and hewould be here at 6:30 to help me on my route

to school. Once or twice a week we’d do a routefrom the school to a doctor’s appointment orwherever.”

Rene says that Early Head Start helped herdeal with the stress of parenting. “I think themost stressful part was when I first had thebaby, I was dealing with a brand new disability,being a brand new mom, not knowing anythingabout being a mom. And they basically tookcare of that part about learning what it was tobe a mom and what children need at that age.They gave me a lot of support to help me realizethat my disability wasn’t anything but achallenge. It wasn’t going to stop me.”

The program assistedher in many otherways. “They did a lotwith education,teaching us about ourchildren’s health.There were activitytopics on sex ed,prevention of sexuallytransmitted diseases.That didn’t apply to meat the time, but still Ithought they were

reaching out and trying to make a difference ina lot of these girls’ lives, to be aware of lot of thedifferent things that are out there. What theydid do for me, personally, to help maintain myhealth was when I couldn’t get somewherebecause of lack of transportation, they providedtransportation for me to appointments that Ineeded. And when I needed to get on birthcontrol, my family support specialist took me.She actually went with me to my appointmentand stayed with me.”

The program gave her new parenting skills andperspectives. “Especially when she was firstborn…my family support specialist helped mefigure out how to change the baby with onehand so I wouldn’t have to depend so much onmy family. And [Early Head Start] gave me anopportunity to interact with my child in apositive learning environment, between playgroups and the activities that they have. And itgave me someone to talk to and vent my


frustrations so I wouldn’t take it out on mybaby.”

Rene was a regular at many program events. “Iwent to almost all of the [site-based activities].Play groups every week, unless [my daughter]was sick or something. But I didn’t go duringschool unless I was on break or somethingbecause I didn’t want to miss school.”

She and her daughter both enjoyed the playgroups. “I liked to watch my daughter play withother kids and learn how to interact with otherkids without being a bossy little two-year-old.And to learn in a positive environment how toplay nicely. They teach them that, by exposingthem to painting and using glue and glitter, andit was fun for her. She had a lot of fun.”

Rene also attended mom’s support groupsregularly. “I would go every week. It was one ofthose things I did not miss unless I absolutelyhad to. It gave me an opportunity to spend timewith other females that were basically in thesame predicament that I was. Because whenyou’re a teen mom you don’t get a chance to goout with your friends. You kind of have yourrole basically stuck being a mom. So it gave mean opportunity to go out and meet new friendsand give them some support and also getsupport with the issues I was having. And therewas always the confidentiality thing so youdidn’t have to worry about it. The biggest rulewas confidentiality.”

Her family support specialist, who left EarlyHead Start a few weeks prior to the interview,was very important to her. “She was myfavorite. I considered her somewhat like a sistereven though it was a professional relationship.We got really close. I was really saddened whenshe left the program… She was always the mostpositive person in the world. Even when I wasin the saddest, crankiest mood she could comeover and be all smiles and stuff and we’d findsomething fun to do with the baby orsomething, like videotaping. I lovedvideotaping. “

They covered many topics during weekly homevisits, including parenting and health issues. “In

the beginning we discussed parenting a lot,because I didn’t know anything then, buttoward the end, after I had a year or soexperience, I knew what my role was and mostlyit was personal issues. She would help me bygiving me a ride somewhere, like doctor’s visitsor getting my daughter her shots. She wasalways on top of that. She knew when mydaughter turned six months she needed certainvaccinations. You never had to ask her for thatinformation, she would keep track.”

The nurses also visited. “Every six months theydo an evaluation of the babies to see howthey’re growing. It kept me updated as to whereshe should be and where she was. She’s veryintelligent for her age. She’s kind of tall for herage. She’s right on target for growing, but she’skind of light as far as her weight.”

Her family support specialist prepared her forthe transition process. “She made me feelcomfortable with the fact that Early Head Startwas a stepping stone, and that I’m going ontobigger and better things. She said I hadgraduated from high school, was getting readyto go to college, was getting [control of] mysocial security check, doing all these things,making all these big transitions. It was theperfect time to transition out of Early HeadStart, right?”

To reassure Rene, her family support specialisttalked with her about her achievements. “Thelast visit I had with my family support specialist,we went through and looked at my IFSPs andwe checked off which goals I had accomplished,and she was like, ‘Wow, Rene, you’veaccomplished all of these.’ It was cool to lookback and see how far I had come. I’m takingcare of my daughter. I’ve graduated high school.I’m walking.”

Together, they developed a transition plan.“We decided on one home visit a month, and Iwasn’t going to mom’s group anymore. I wasgoing to go to play group, but that was more formy daughter’s stimulation than for my support.When I got elected to the [Parent Policy]Council, that kind of changed it because Iwasn’t going to be leaving on the month that I


planned on because I had to wait until the nextelection in November.” Rene says she hasadjusted to the transition. “I feel a lot better,especially because she is not my family supportspecialist anymore so I don’t have to face losingher when I leave. And she prepared me for it.”

She credits the program with making her morechild oriented. “I learned that a baby is alwaysgoing to be a first priority. It showed me a lot ofdifferent ways to deal with her. It taught me tobe patient and to understand the stages she’sgrowing through developmentally, and to beable to look at things from my daughter’sperspective before I go out and take action. Ifshe’s getting into things, I could go up andspank her, but what I am able to do because ofEarly Head Start is look at it from herperspective—she’s only a kid and she’sexploring her surroundings.”

A lthough she still participates in site-basedactivities, she already misses the rest of theprogram. “The family support specialists, thestaff, and the kids—my daughter got to grow upwith them. I got to watch my friends’ kids growup from the time they were infants until thetime they were three. When I was in mom’sgroup, if I wasn’t watching my daughter then Iknew she was okay because all of the moms inour group, we’d take care of each other’s kids. Imiss that.”

But she says that Early Head Start will have alasting effect on her family. “It has given mewhat it set out to do. It has given me thesupport I need to become a better parent and abetter role model for my daughter. And it hasalso given my daughter the environment whereshe can learn and become a better and smarter,more knowledgeable person as she grows.”

Epilogue—Rene exited the program in November after her term on the Parent Policy Council

expired. By then, she was taking classes at Phoenix College, her daughter was attending Head

Start on the college campus, and she and the father of her child had found an apartment together.

She was also working part time in the college’s preschool, and again serving on the Parent Policy

Council, this time as a representative of her daughter’s Head Start program.


Crystal

Crystal, 20, and her 37-month-old son, live with Crystal’s mother, stepfather, and two youngerbrothers in a modern well-kept home. Crystal works full time and receives AHCCCS benefits forher son. The father of her child sees his son weekly but rarely contributes child support. As of herthird annual interview, Crystal had been enrolled in Early Head Start for 31 months.

Crystal learned about Early Head Start from an agency contact related to her pregnancy. Duringher first annual interview, she was living in a small guest house with David, the father of herchild, who also participated in the interview. Both had dropped out of high school, but Crystalhad recently returned with the intention of graduating. David held a job to support the family.They planned to marry. After seven months in the program, Crystal said that she valued EarlyHead Start for giving her information on child development and for monitoring her son’s progress.She credited program staff with helping her meet her personal goals in education, and providingemotional support when she encountered problems. While her school schedule prevented herfrom attending any site-based activities, Crystal said she hoped to attend in the future.

At the time of her second interview, Crystal had achieved her goal of graduating from high school,but had broken up with David. She changed residences several times, and ended up living withher mother and stepfather while she searched for a job. During her moves, she lost contact withEarly Head Start for a period of months, but later reconnected after establishing herself at hermother’s house. She said that Early Head Start had helped her obtain low-cost medical care forher son, provided a reliable source of information regarding parenting and child safety, and hadtaught her useful methods of positive discipline. She appreciated the emotional support andhelpfulness of program staff, and the periodic monitoring of her son’s development. She said shehoped to attend site-based activities and play groups in the coming year.

Crystal accomplished some of her goals in thepast year. Among them, she stayed steadilyemployed. “I changed jobs a couple of times butI’ve never been without one.” She alsotemporarily fulfilled a goal to move out of hermother’s house. “I’ve done a lot of moving, outfor awhile and in with a roommate, but I’m backin the same place.” She hasn’t yet had time tomeet her education goals due to lack of time andtransportation. “I was going to take some nightcourses at GCC [Glendale Community College].I want to try to start some, but I’m not going tomake the fall semester… Right now it would be alittle too overwhelming.” She eventually hopes tostudy education. “I want to teach elementaryschool. My grandmother offered to pay somemoney for my initial classes, and after that I’llprobably look into financial aid or grants.”

She also made progress on some goals for herson’s health. “His vaccinations are all up to date.He doesn’t need shots again until he is four. Andthen, he had problems with his ears and we wentand got tubes in his ears… We spent six monthsof doctor visits every week, a different medicineevery other week, trying to figure out what waswrong with him. It took six months to get thereferrals and approvals for the tubes.”

Early Head Start staff have often helped hercope with stress. “My life hasn’t been real great,and I haven’t been good about talking withanybody or going to counselors. I keep a lot of itbottled up inside. But you get to a point whereyou can’t push anymore of it down, and I’ve justbroken into tears, gone into depression stages.And they’ve been there to talk to me. They’ve


�There have been a lot of things I would have

been completely lost on or probably wouldn’t

have gotten help on without them– like

finishing school, my son’s health, and my

emotional health…

referred me to their specialists. They’ve helpedwith medication. They’ve done all that for me.”

She has received help on health issues. “They’vechecked to make sure that I’ve been healthy. Myfamily support specialist went down to the DESoffice with me to apply for AHCCCS. She’s givenme other options on health care if I didn’t qualifyfor AHCCCS, phone numbers to different lowincome places where they would base it onincome as to how much they would charge you.”Her family support specialist has also encouragedher interest in higher education. “She went downwith me to GCC, and we looked around andpicked up a packet on financial aid and asked acouple of questions.”

The program has givenher support andassurance regarding herparenting skills.“There’s been a lot thathas gone on in the lastthree years that, withoutthem, I don’t think Icould have handled aswell I did. They’ve helped a lot in figuring outdevelopmentally if my son is on track. Just thefact that they’ve been telling me that I amexcelling at being a good parent has helped.”

She still has not attended any play groups orsupport groups, but did go to some site-basedactivities. “I’ve been so busy working and goingto school the last couple of years that I’ve beento only two. One was on positive discipline andone was on potty training. The potty training wasneat because they had us do a game-type thingthat showed us how a child perceives pottytraining. They taught us about how a lot ofchildren are afraid of potty training, and gave usideas. It was pretty informative.”

Most of her program support has come throughinteraction with her family support specialists.She has had two since enrolling, the most recentfor about a year. “She’s really good. She’s beenhelpful with transportation. She’s been good atgetting me information on things. If she doesn’tknow [the answer] she’ll definitely look for it,even if she has to go through and ask 10 or 15other people, make calls, or search through books

and make copies. I’ve asked her everything frommore help on positive discipline to his speechproblem and ADHD. We’ve worked a lot on thediscipline thing because he’s been really wearingon me.”

They discuss a variety of subjects during visits.“We usually do our goal sheet every six months,and then after that she’ll ask me, ‘Have youthought about school?’ or whatever [as followup].

We’ve talked a lot about problems andrelationships. It’s more me talking and herlistening, but that’s perfectly fine because at that

point all I really need issomebody to just listen.Because I don’t haveanybody at home oranywhere that I canjust talk to.”

Her family supportspecialist consults withher about her son’shealth. “There was a

long strain of, Why is he not hearing me? What’swrong with his ears? And there were a lot ofdoctor’s visits. My family support specialist wouldask if he was okay, and what were [the doctors]doing.” They discuss his safety as well. “She hada survey and asked me if I had anything to makehim vomit. I didn’t know there was anything likethat, so she told me about it. We also talkedabout outlet covers and doorknob things. Nowthere are covers on the outlets and we havedoorknob covers so he can’t open the doors.”

She has also been visited by other staff. “Thenurse has been out. She does the basicdevelopmental test. The child development/disabilities specialist has been out. She does themore advanced forms. She has given me ideas onhow to improve his development, like when hewas having a problem putting puzzles togethershe told me things to do. With his speechproblem she told me to try to get him to chewharder foods—she told me basically what waswrong and what to do to help strengthen themuscles in his mouth. She has also brought overbooks and pamphlets and told me some of thethings he’s going through are just part of a stage.”


She has had referrals for emotional help. “In thelast year I have seen the Early Head Startpsychologist, she’s come out. And I’ve also seen[a psychiatrist]—I had to go see him. He canprescribe pills for my depression.” Themedication helped her, but she stopped taking it.“I don’t have medical insurance. If I did I’d stillbe on it. The psychiatrist wanted to up mydosage, but having to pay for it myself was just alittle too hard to do.”

In the past, she has received financial assistancefrom Early Head Start for her prescriptions.“They’ve paid for them before, I’m not a personwho likes to keep asking for help. Its one of thosethings where they’ve paid for them enough.”Instead, she hopes to get insurance. “I’ve beentrying to fight for medical for me. I’ve tried DESand for some reason I make too much money [toqualify for AHCCCS] even though I only makeminimum wage. I’ve been told about thepremium sharing program and I was going to tryget another application and apply for that, butwith the job I have now, in six months I’ll havefull medical, dental, and vision benefits.”

Crystal is close to exiting the program. “I kneweventually I’d be cut from it. At first mytransition was supposed to be when my sonturned three, but I had a bunch of things comeup then and we decided to extend my transitionuntil August. He’s already turned three, in June.”

Her family support specialist discussed thetransition process with her. “They have a wholetransition setup where we decide how manyvisits are left, if I want to go to any activities, if Ineed any more help from anybody else in theprogram, transportation. It’s basically a map out

of the last two months. I want to go to thismonth’s activity because it is ‘gymboree,’tumbling and stuff like that for my son.”

She is working on getting her son set for schoolnext year. “The only other thing planned was ameeting with one of the [childdevelopment/disabilities] specialists at EarlyHead Start to check him for ADHD. We haven’tdone that yet. We’re trying to do that andeverything else to get him into regular HeadStart—one that is really good with speechproblems because the childdevelopment/disabilities specialist thinks hemight have a speech problem.”

After three years of participation, she feelsapprehensive about losing the program. “It’s kindof scary. Because they’ve helped with so muchand been there for so long it’s going to be scarynot to be able to call and say ‘Hey, I need helpwith this or that.”

She will miss the support most of all. “Justknowing that there’s somebody there if I neededhelp with anything. There have been a lot ofthings I would have been completely lost on orprobably wouldn’t have gotten help on withoutthem—like on finishing school, my son’s health,and my emotional health. Now it’s like, Okay,I’m on my own, who do I call if I have aquestion? They’ve always been so helpful witheverything.”

She says she has benefitted a lot from Early HeadStart, but the single most important thing she haslearned is this: “That I am a good parent…They’ve always been real supportive in makingsure I knew that, for being as young as I am, I’mdoing a good job as a parent.”

Epilogue—Crystal exited Early Head Start less than one month after her final interview. In that

time she stayed at her job and moved out of her mother’s house and into an apartment with a

roommate. Her son was not enrolled in Head Start as planned but, instead, continued to attend

day care.


Diane

Diane, 18, and her two sons—37 months and nine months—live in a house belonging to her

grandfather. Also residing in the house are Diane’s grandfather, mother, school-aged aunt and,

periodically, a younger brother. Diane earns some money from baby sitting, but no one else in the

household is currently working. She receives AHCCCS and WIC benefits for her sons, and has

applied for TANF, while her mother receives food stamps and her grandfather receives SSI. Her

older son receives services from DDD. At the time of her third interview, Diane had been enrolled

in Early Head Start for 35 months but had recently stopped receiving home visits because of her

imminent transition out of the program.

Visiting nurses encouraged Diane to call Early Head Start shortly after her son’s birth. At her first

interview, she said she had dropped out of school in junior high and was currently on probation

for minor offenses. With the help of Early Head Start staff, however, Diane had recently earned

her eighth-grade diploma, was attending classes to obtain her GED, and had been looking for a

job. She said the program had helped her learn about her son’s behaviors and understand his

development, and said that home visits and other program services reassured her about her son’s

development and showed her ways to teach him new things. She appreciated the program’s role

in helping her manage her anger and she said it had provided an enjoyable break from the dull

routine at home. Among her personal goals were plans to do well in school, stay out of trouble,

and get on birth control. Goals that involved her son included getting him more comfortable with

other people, teaching him more words, improving his health, and improving his relationship with

her.

At her second interview, Diane said she had seen improvement in her son’s speech, and in his

relationship with her, but said she had quit the GED program, gotten pregnant again, and failed to

get off probation. She found conditions at home so tense and crowded that she had run away

twice in the past year, and when she was home she usually slept on the living room couch. She

said that her family support specialist helped her deal with personal stress and the tensions at

home, provided transportation when needed, helped her follow through on decisions, and gave

good advice on parenting, child development, and child health and safety. Her family support

specialist had also helped her search for a job and improve some bad habits. Her goals included

getting on birth control, completing her GED, and going to college. She said her favorite aspects of

Early Head Start were the weekly play groups and the cheerful and supportive staff.

Diane gave birth to her second child in the pastyear, a healthy boy. “He’s nine months now.He’s starting to learn to walk. He pulls himselfup on things and tries to walk.” She also enjoysa better home situation. “It’s a lot better. Mygrandfather kicked out my two uncles [who hadbeen causing trouble], and now I have my own

room. Everything is a lot more quiet and not sofrustrating.”

Her older son, meanwhile, has just startedschool. “It’s called a preschool and gifted center.He has like a speech delay.” He has madeprogress on some of the goals Diane set for hisdevelopment and socialization. “Potty training


�Before I used to be really angry, but I’m

not anymore. I got over that. Everybody

helped me with my anger.

he’s doing really good. And he did really goodwith the kids over there [at play groups]. Helikes to play with them.”

She still hasn’t made any progress, however, onmany of her personal goals. “I know I didn’taccomplish a lot of them. Probably because Ididn’t want it bad enough. That’s why I didn’tpass [in school].” But now she feels her attitudehas changed. “I just want to be able toaccomplish them and actually get up and dosomething instead of sitting around doingnothing. I want to get through school—it’ssomething I really, really want.” She plans tobegin soon. “I’m probably going to start schoolnext week for GED classes… Then I’m thinkingabout either taking some college classes or somecomputer classes. And I hope I can find a reallygood job, something thatI can stay at for a while.”

Early Head Start hascontinued to help hercope with stresses andfrustrations in her life.“Sometimes I’d get sickof being stuck in my house a lot, so [my familysupport specialist and I] would go out and lookfor a school, or go to play group. And we’d talkabout it and she’d help me find a way to solveit… With stress, she’d bring me papers with likestress relievers—what to do when you start tostressing out, like give somebody a hug orsomething like that.When she was around shebrightened up my day a little more.”

Her family support specialist also attempted toget her interested in school. “She tried, butsometimes I get stubborn and don’t want to go,make up excuses. I think [Early Head Startstaff] have gotten me through that, though. Ithink the activity coming up is for job andschool fair, and I’m thinking about going tothat. They gave me a lot of places to go toschool.”

The program has improved her parenting skillsand child care practices. “They got me a carseat for my younger son. [They taught meabout] feeding, what to feed him and what notto feed him. Things most babies could get really

sick from eating… And like floor time. At firstwhen my [older] baby was born, I didn’t puthim on the floor a lot and my family supportspecialist told me to put him on the floorbecause he’d be able to start doing more thingslike learning to crawl.”

Early Head Start has also helped herunderstand her children’s growth anddevelopment. “The nurse and my family supportspecialist brought books on stuff like that—likearound certain ages what they should be doing,the things I should be doing. They helped me todo more things like that with both the boys.”And the program monitored her children’shealth and development. “The nurse wouldcome out and weigh him and tell me things tohelp him, like get him to crawl or get him to

walk or stand. With myolder son, talking waslike our major thing.They’d bring out littlecards and stuff to showhim and get him to saythings.”

She says she has learned a more effectivemethod of discipline from Early Head Start. “Myfamily support specialist brought out papers ondiscipline. Before I used to yell because I’d getfrustrated with my older boy. Now I just sitdown and talk to him or put him in ‘time out.’He likes to throw things at people, so I’m tryingto teach him not to throw toys atpeople…whenever he does that we put him intime out.” She prefers talking to yelling now. “Iknow he gets frustrated and starts crying [whenI yell], and I feel bad for yelling at him, so Ithink it’s easier to sit down and talk.”

Diane has attended very few site-basedactivities. “I don’t hardly go…I don’t like biggroup settings.” But she does like to go to playgroups. “At least twice a month… My older sonloves play groups, I guess because he gets to goand do things like play with the paint or clay, orplay with the other kids…and he’s away fromthe house, so it’s more fun for him. He likes toget out.”


Home visits have already stopped for Dianeand she already misses her family supportspecialist, whom she has had since enrollmentin the program. “We got along pretty good. Iliked her a lot. She was nice, a really goodperson.” During weekly home visits, theydiscussed many issues related to goals for herchildren and herself. “We talked aboutparenting and things that I needed to get donethat I needed her to help with. She’d bring meout papers for like baby food…or homeactivities that I could do with my son. Abouttwice a month she’d ask what I was going to dofor school, or exercise, whatever my goals wereat the time.

They also talked about relationships at home.“Sometimes I get frustrated with my uncles ormy mom or my grandpa. So we talked about itand ways to handle it. We’d find ways to goaround it.” They discussed family planning. “Istarted taking the Depo [birth control] shot butthere was a problem with that for me, so Ihaven’t gotten it again. I’m going to go back tothe doctor and get the pills or something.” Andthey talked about child health and safety. “Wemade sure the boys were up on their shots, andmade sure they were healthy… My familysupport specialist helped me go to doctor’sappointments when I couldn’t get there, orbring me out bus tokens, make sure I got to allof the appointments for me and the boys…

And my family support specialist was alwaysbringing me out stuff, like locks for the cabinets,and the little outlet plugs.” The childdevelopment and disabilities specialist alsovisited. “She did a test on my older son and gotus in touch with DDD.”

Her family support specialist developed atransition plan with her. “Normally she’d visitonce or twice a week, but toward the end whenI was getting ready to leave [Early Head Start] itwas like two or three times a month, and theother times I’d go to an activity or play group…They said I could still go to activities and playgroups, but I think that’s it. They were waitingfor my son to start school so they couldtransition him into that. They didn’t want toleave him without anything. I’m okay with it.”

Diane can’t think of any way to improve theprogram. “Everything is pretty good. I reallyliked being with them, and I’ll miss them. Theyare really happy, bright people.” She says themost important thing Early Head Start hastaught her about parenting is this: “To havemore patience, more understanding.”

She credits staff with helping her manage whatshe calls her “short temper” during the lastthree years. “Before I used to be really angry,but I’m not anymore. I got over that. Everybody

helped me with my anger.”

Epilogue—Diane exited the Early Head Start program one month after her final interview. At the

time, her older son was continuing to attend preschool and receive speech and language services.


Ruby and Luis

Ruby, 19, her husband, Luis, and their 38-month-old daughter exited Early Head Start in June of

1999. The couple had been enrolled in the program for 34 months. At the time of their departure,

their daughter was pre-enrolled in a regular Head Start preschool program scheduled to begin in

August. They also were living in their own house, owned a car, and both Ruby and Luis held

jobs—Luis’s employer providing health insurance that covered the family. They received WIC

benefits for their daughter, but no other public assistance. Prior to leaving the program, Ruby and

Luis participated in a brief exit interview. While they were conversant in English, they asked to be

assisted by a Spanish translator.

Ruby and Luis found out about Early Head Start from Luis’s sister who is the neighbor of a family

support specialist. At their first annual interview, the couple lived in a well-kept apartment with

one corner devoted to children’s books, furniture, and toys. Luis was employed full time while

Ruby was taking classes toward her GED. They received WIC and AHCCCS benefits for their

daughter. The couple said that Early Head Start had showed them how to care for and teach their

daughter. It had also provided items such as diapers and milk when they ran out. The program

taught Ruby how to prevent a second pregnancy, helped her enroll in GED classes, and provided

occasional transportation, particularly to get medical services or WIC. Both Ruby and Luis had

attended and enjoyed site-based activities and appreciated their family support specialist’s home

visits, particularly the videotaping sessions of their daughter’s progress.

At their second interview, Ruby and Luis had moved in with relatives in a small, well-maintained

home. They felt cramped sharing the house, but their ultimate goal was to buy a home of their

own, and the shared accommodations allowed them to save money faster toward that goal. In the

past year, Ruby had found a part-time job, Luis had gotten a new construction job that provided

health insurance, and they had purchased a car. The only public assistance they received was

WIC benefits for their daughter. They said their work schedules were making it difficult to

participate in Early Head Start, but they appreciated home visits when they could meet with their

family support specialist. She gave them good parenting advice, helped Ruby find a job, monitored

their child’s health and development, taught them to be patient with their daughter, brought

books and games for their daughter, discussed child safety issues with them, assisted them in

dealing with health problems for both Ruby and their daughter, and helped them set goals. They

enjoyed the site-based activities for the social opportunities they provided, and also because

activity topics had taught them to read to their child regularly, use positive discipline techniques,

and perform CPR. Ruby also liked the mom’s support groups she had attended because they gave

her the opportunity to talk about personal problems, share experiences, and get advice. They

thought they might leave the program in the near future because they had gained some control

over their lives and didn’t need program services as much anymore.

Ruby and Luis say they expect to leave EarlyHead Start soon because the time is right. Ruby:

“Our daughter is three. She will go to preschooland that will be the end of the program.”


�We learned how to teach our daughter

from birth. We were young, but we learned

how to watch her and take care of her.

Their experience with Early Head Start hasmade them better parents, they both agree. Luis:“It helped us to take care of the baby.” Ruby: “Ittaught us to be goodparents, to bepatient…how to livetogether as a family.”

They enjoyed a goodrelationship with theirfamily supportspecialist through their participation in theprogram. Ruby: “She was good. Like a nicefriend. She was always ready to help us.” Luis:“She would give

our daughter tests to see how much she learnedevery week.”

When asked what theylearned from theprogram, several thingsstand out. Luis: “Welearned how to teach ourdaughter from birth. Wewere young, but welearned how to watch

her and take care of her.” Ruby: “They taughtour daughter how to play with other childrenand be patient with them. We also got goodadvice on buying our first house.”


Camilla

Camilla, 18, and her nearly 3-year-old daughter exited Early Head Start in late May 1999 and werenot available for a third interview. Prior to her departure, Camilla told program staff she had gotteneverything she wanted out of the program and was working on getting her daughter enrolled inregular Head Start. She had been consistently employed for several months prior to leaving theprogram, but had stopped attending activities and was not always available for home visits. She hadbeen enrolled in Early Head Start for 32 months.

Camilla first learned about Early Head Start from a social worker at her former high school. At thetime of her first annual interview, she was living with her boyfriend in a guest house behind hisfamily’s home. Also living in the neighborhood were her mother and grandparents, which gave herseveral options for child care help. Camilla was enrolled in a charter high school and expected to getan after-school job. Her boyfriend worked full-time. Camilla said that one of the attractions of EarlyHead Start was the opportunity it gave her to meet other teen parents in the site-based activities. Shesaid the activities also provided information on how to become a good parent, and had helped herdaughter learn to socialize with other children through play. She said she appreciated Early HeadStart staff for helping her deal with government agencies, offering support with personal problems,answering her parenting and medical questions, and keeping track of her daughter’s progress. Herprimary goal in life, she said, was to finish high school, obtain a higher education, and get a good jobso she could take care of her daughter.

At the time of her second annual interview, Camilla had moved back to her mother’s house, wherean older brother also resided. Camilla had quit the charter school, but was enrolled in a full-timeGED program. She was not currently employed, and had spent most of the past year working. Herboyfriend, who still lived at his parent’s home nearby, had only minor involvement with his daughter,but he remained employed and provided some necessities for the child as well as transportation forCamilla after school. For the vast majority of her household expenses and needs, however, Camillarelied on her mother. She still received no public assistance for herself or her daughter, but her schoolprovided low-cost child care while Camilla was in class, and her brother and other relatives alsohelped out on occasion.

Camilla said that, over the past year, her daughter had become more difficult to cope with becauseshe had reached toddler stage, but her family support specialist had helped her deal with the changes.Her family support specialist had also helped her deal with the tensions she felt with her boyfriend’sfamily, and had encouraged her to stay on track with her life goals. Several program staff had givenher information on how to care for her daughter and how to teach her to share with other kids, andthey had also monitored her child’s development through periodic evaluations and videotaping. Shesaid she liked both of the family support specialists she had been assigned, as well as other programstaff she’d encountered, describing them as “really kind” and saying “they try their best to do whatthey can to help you.”


Michael

Michael, 20, was disenrolled from Early Head Start in March 1999 after he failed to meet withprogram staff and his son was not available to be seen for routine evaluations. The child was 25months old at the time. Michael had been enrolled in the program for 28 months.

Michael’s first contact with Early Head Start occurred through the mother of his child who, whilestill pregnant, heard about the program from a school nurse and subsequently enrolled. During hisfirst annual interview, Michael lived with his mother, two younger brothers, and an older sister andher two young children in a relatively modern house. One of only a few fathers enrolled in Early HeadStart as a primary caregiver, he had gained custody of his son while the boy’s mother served a prisonterm. He held a full time job at a bank processing center and relied on his sister and mother toprovide child care while he worked. Michael spoke highly of Early Head Start, particularly thepersonal attention and encouragement he had received. He said had the program helped him get abetter job, enroll in school, and set goals. The program had also given him information about his son’sdevelopment, provided monitoring of his son’s health, and offered him “someone to talk to” forcounseling and advice. His goals were to finish high school, join the military, get a job, get his ownplace to live, keep his son healthy, and work on his son’s language skills.

At the time of his second annual interview, Michael was not available for a visit. According to EarlyHead Start records and staff, he had lost his job, left his mother’s home, and not responded to callsfrom program personnel. Prior to this break in communication, Michael had given his son’s maternalgrandmother permission to take the boy for an extended visit. His son’s mother, meanwhile,continued to serve a prison term with her release expected in late 1998. In fall of 1998, Michaelreestablished contact with Early Head Start and was assigned a new family support specialist. Hesubsequently found a job, retrieved his son, and began participating in some program services. Afterhis son’s mother was released from prison in Tucson, Michael sent the boy to live with her. At thispoint he was informed he would be disenrolled from the program, but he attempted to retrieve theboy again and continue program services. He participated in an exit interview in early 1999, onemonth before his eventual disenrollment.

At the time of his exit interview, Michael was living in an apartment with a new girlfriend who waspregnant with his child. He had just started a new job at a home improvement store. While he hadnot been attending program activities or groups, and had not scheduled evaluations with the nurse orchild development/disabilities specialist, he had been receiving home visits from his new familysupport specialist. Michael said his family support specialist had helped him monitor his son’s healthand deal with custody problems. She had also helped him become a stronger parent and influencedhim to try non-violent means of discipline. She discussed strategies for him to better manage hisfinances. His goals remained similar to what they had been a year and a half earlier—he planned toearn his GED and then either take some college level classes or train for a job with the firedepartment. Looking back over the more than two years he had been in the program, Michael saidthat what he appreciated most of all was the emotional support Early Head Start had provided, as wellas the inspiration it gave him to keep trying to succeed regardless of any mistakes or misfortune. Hesaid the only way the program could have helped him more is “if they moved in with me,” and hecredited the program with teaching him “everything” about how to be a parent. Michael said hehoped to convince his new girlfriend to enroll in the program before she gave birth so he could stayconnected to Early Head Start staff. Otherwise he said, “I feel like if I lose the program, I lose a pieceof my backbone.”


Liana

Liana, 18, her 25-month-old daughter, and 6-month-old son were disenrolled from Early Head Startin December 1998. Liana had missed several consecutive home visits, moved out of her last knownaddress, and had not contacted program personnel. She had been enrolled in Early Head Start foralmost 25 months.

Liana learned about Early Head Start from nurses involved with the birth of her baby. During herfirst annual interview, she was living with an older male acquaintance and his two children in a small,rundown apartment where she took care of housekeeping in exchange for shelter and some food.They moved frequently, and her only source of income was a job selling tamales on the street. Thefather of her daughter was not involved with her in any way. Coming from an abusive family situationin Central America where she was not allowed to attend school, Liana could not read or writeadequately in Spanish, her primary language, and she spoke almost no English. She said Early HeadStart had helped her learn how to care for a baby, and it taught her daughter play skills. The programhad also provided transportation to doctor appointments and important meetings, and staff sometimesgave her translation assistance. She regularly attended site-based activities, both for the chance tosocialize with other teen parents and for the child-care instruction she received. She was activelyserving on the Parent Policy Council, and said it was one of her favorite aspects of the program. Herson received WIC and AHCCCS benefits, but Liana qualified for no additional public assistance.

At the time of her second annual interview, Liana had moved to a substandard, sparsely furnishedmobile home with unreliable water, heating, and air conditioning. She resided with the same man(who she now referred to as her boyfriend) and his children as the year before, and she had recentlygiven birth to a son by him. Her boyfriend allowed her to use his car, and he also provided somefinancial support for Liana and her children, but she was looking for a job—a search that wascomplicated by the fact she had no work permit. Liana no longer received any public assistancebenefits for herself or her children. She was currently assigned to her third family support specialist intwo years.

Liana said that, throughout her enrollment in Early Head Start, program staff had regularlymonitored her children and helped keep them healthy and immunized. The program also helped herunderstand how her children developed. Her participation in Early Head Start, however, had droppedoff dramatically during the past year. She frequently failed to be home for scheduled visits, and shealso stopped going to site-based activities and gave up her position on the Parent Policy Council. Thiswas due, she said, to various jobs and what she characterized as a “hard pregnancy” with her son.Nevertheless, Liana said she missed the social aspects of the activities and hoped to get involvedagain soon. Within three months after her second interview, program staff had lost all contact withher.


Whitney

Whitney, 16, her 16-month old son, and her 2-month-old daughter were disenrolled from EarlyHead Start in April 1998 after she moved away from her last known residence and failed to maintaincontact with program staff. She was not available for her second annual interview. Whitney had beenenrolled in the program for 18 months.

Whitney was pregnant with her first child when she first heard about Early Head Start from a highschool counselor. She had been raised primarily by her grandmother because her mother reportedlyhad drug problems and had been arrested several times. After several months in the program,Whitney moved in with an aunt and cousin in a relatively modern house in far northwest Phoenix.During her first annual interview, she said she was four months pregnant with a second child and wasconcerned about her future because she wanted to marry the father of her children, but was legallyconstrained from seeing him because she was a minor and he an adult. Regarding her experience inEarly Head Start, Whitney said the program had helped her in several ways: it providedtransportation to appointments and meetings, taught her about child development, and gave hersomeone to talk to about problems. She said she enjoyed site-based activities, though she hadattended only a few. Her goals were to go to school, complete her education, get a good job, and showher son more love.

In the seven months between her first interview and disenrollment, Whitney made little progress inher life circumstances according to program records and staff interviews. She gave birth to a secondchild, a daughter, but the father—who was also father of her son—had been imprisoned because oftheir age status and she was unable to have contact with him. For a brief time she moved to a cousin’sapartment, but was forced to leave because her behavior was considered inappropriate by the cousin.At disenrollment, she’d been receiving public assistance in the form of TANF, WIC, and AHCCCS.

Whitney also made little progress on her goals. She had taken no action related to her goals ofgetting an education and earning a living. She also showed no improvement in her parenting skills,usually choosing to send her son away from home during her family support specialist’s home visits.Though she followed through on a program referral to the mental health specialist, she had attendedno site-based activities or other events in several months. Based on the quality of her participation,Early Head Start staff believed she primarily regarded the program as a means of obtainingtransportation, material goods, and help in a crisis.

Tony:�This [program] was never around when I was a kid.

I’m not saying it’s okay to be a teenage parent, but my

children...are going to have a better start school-wise than

what I had...[They] are going to be really educated to the

point where they’re able to graduate...

Rene:

�[EHS] has given me what it set out to do. It has given

me the support I need to become a better parent and a

better role model for my daughter. And it has also given

my daughter the environment where she can learn and

become a better and smarter, more knowledgeable person

as she grows.

Documents

Phoenix Early Head Start: Twelve Family Stories Final ChapterPhoenix Early Head Start is funded under a grant to Southwest Human Development, Inc. from the Administration for Children,